Editorial: Managing a mountain of a job

Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 | 7:22 a.m.

Residents and visitors are loving the Spring Mountains to death, prompting environmentalists and land developers alike to ask the U.S. Forest Service for better management and information.

Members of the groups told the Las Vegas Sun last week that traffic-choked roads up Kyle and Lee canyons, hikers trespassing on private property, damage from off-road-vehicle use in unauthorized areas and a lack of information about the Forest Service's plans are just a few of the problems facing the popular peaks northwest of Las Vegas.

Conservationists fear that huge increases in the number of people who want to play and live on and around Mount Charleston could push some rare subspecies of insects and plants into extinction. The mountain range is an ecological island that is home to 14 plant and seven butterfly species and even one chipmunk species that are found nowhere else.

Called endemics, these are actually subspecies of common varieties that freely roamed this area eons ago. As the valley's climate gradually grew hot and dry, these species became stranded in the Spring Mountains, where they now survive.

Of particular concern is the Mount Charleston blue butterfly, a subspecies of the more common Shasta blue, that exists only on about 50 acres near the Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort at the top of Lee Canyon.

One local conservationist said she is concerned that ski resort development plans could damage the butterfly's limited habitat, pushing it to extinction. A California group recently filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking that any further destruction of the habitat stop.

The ski resort, purchased from its local owners in 2003 by Park City, Utah's Powdr Corp., is replacing lifts destroyed by avalanches last winter. Owners also have considered adding mountain-biking trails for summer use, a resort official told the Sun in 2004.

Such projects must be approved by the Forest Service and fit into the agency's overall management plan. But, as members of the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association told the Sun last week, information is not always readily available from the Forest Service and its partner federal land agencies.

For example, one homebuilders association official said no federal agency said anything about possible concerns for the Mount Charleston butterfly and its habitat.

Add to these problems the natural threat of wildfire, one of which burned more than 2,000 acres of endemic species habitat in 2000, and this mountain oasis could be in a heap of trouble.

Our federal officials, across the board, need to be more open and forthcoming with those seeking information, whether they are trying to save a butterfly, build a home or restore a ski lift.

Such communication is the best way to create the partnerships and long-range plans that will allow reasonable amounts of recreation to thrive while protecting the area's rare plants, animals and insects.